Itaewon and the Korean War Memorial

주말에 이태원으로 갔어요 (Over the weekend I went to Itaewon).  Before I begin, if you don't know about Itaewon, it is the most western part of Seoul.  More specifically, it is the most American part of Seoul.  Therefore, you will see a lot less Koreans and a lot more westerners in Itaewon.  Being that there is an American army base in Itaewon, there is a heavy military presence there but they are all just hanging out and having a good time.  A lot of people I have met during my time here have expressed their dislike for the neighborhood (mostly because the clubs are primarily westerners) but since I don't go clubbing and keep an open mind I go to Itaewon and it's pretty cool.  Shopping in Itaewon is amazing; all the food there is from other countries and the eateries all have funny names.  There is also a cool museum dedicated to the korean war there located in between 녹사평역 (Noksapyeong station), exit 4 and 삼각지역 (Samgakji station), exit 11.  

Eating in Itaewon: 

If you are craving western foods and want somewhere to go to eat the closest thing to authentic food from a specific country then go to Itaewon.  The good thing about it is that the food tastes really good and the menus almost imitate the menus from their origin countries (Mexican restaurants serving horchata, pancake houses serving chocolate chip pancakes, etc).  The bad thing is that the food will be more expensive.  I have been to three restaurants in Itaewon and the food was expensive in all of them.  I went to an amazing Mexican restaurant, an awesome pancake house and a really good Slavic(?) restaurant...(I don't know what it was, the menu was nothing but pork and beef buried in salt).  Since the pancake house is the most recent place I ate at in Itaewon I will talk about that. 

The pancake house is called "The Original Pancake House) and it is located next to an Indian place called 'Agra."  The menu prices range from 7,000-25,000 won for pancakes/crepes/waffles depending on the size you want.  They also serve lunch and dinner.  The service is good, the crew speaks fluent English (which you will find at almost every place in Itaewon) and the restaurant made it feel like I was right back in America.  

I went with two friends to try out the pancake house and we really enjoyed it.  for one of my friends it was the first time he had ever had pancakes or waffles and he enjoyed them.  There wasn't really butter, so if you go don't expect any.  it is still Korea after all and they don't use butter very much; it's pretty scarce here.  The fruit on my waffles tasted amazingly fresh but since I got the fruit waffles and strawberries was the main fruit, the waffles were more expensive (strawberries are really expensive in Seoul).  

This is how the restaurant looks inside.  It felt like being back home which was slightly comforting and slightly weird.  If you feel homesick for America, just come eat some pancakes here and it'll feel like you're right back there...kind of.  There was no Korean anywhere in the restaurant except for maybe the menu.  

Other Parts of Itaewon:

besides the restaurants there are other types of shops.  Itaewon is mostly full of shoe stores and plus sized clothing stores.  There are also various other places obviously, but these are the two you will see the most.  If you have bigger feet, then going to Itaewon to buy shoes is probably your best bet since it is easier to find shoes in bigger sizes there.  The shoe stores there are pretty cool and have certain promotional items laying around the store that you might not see in America.  

When I went to the Adidas store, I got to sit on an Adidas shoe to try out my Adidas shoes.  It was really cool and a lot of shoes stores had something similar.

Another place I went to that was really cool was the Line Friends store and cafe.  It was probably the best one I have seen anywhere in Seoul.  it was a store but it was also like a museum.  it is by far my most favorite Line Friends store in Seoul.  there was also a Kakao Friends store but I prefer the ones in Myeongdong and Gangnam a little bit more.

Near the entrance you will see a really big stuffed Brown (that is the name of one of the mascots for Line).  You are also able to take pictures with him.  This is just one of many I took with Brown.  

In the cafe there is this stand by the stairs that has some pretty good looking and inedible) Line Friends macarons.  From farthest to closest it goes Sally, Brown and Cony.  

Walking around the store you will also that a lot of the main Line Friends have their own rooms.  My favorite was moon's that you see here.  i like the space theme his room has.  

Here I am waiting for the bus while taking a peek at what James is reading while Brown and Cony sit there on the other side of the bench waiting patiently for the bus.  The article James was reading was about himself.  hahahaha

Leaving the store, Moon and Cony were there to say bye.  Statues like these were all over the store and behind Cony is a photo booth where you can take pictures with stuffed mascots for free.  

The War Memorial:

The Korean War Memorial was a pretty interesting place.  After leaving Noksapyeong, we walked for about 7-10 minutes down the road and arrived.  leaving Noksapyeong there is an archway.  From the arch just turn left and keep going straight.  the memorial is hard to miss if you go the right way.  It is really peaceful at the memorial and it is also like a free museum outdoors.  

Here is the arch.  On the front side it says "WELCOME TO KOREA."

At the war memorial there is a also a really good view of Namsan Tower.  

This is one of the first things you will see when you arrive at the war memorial.  You can go up to the window and look inside.  Inside is a mannequin controlling the gears of the plane.  

This is the museum.  To give you an idea of how big it is, that is an average guy walking past the museum against the bottom step of the kinda staircase that leads up to the entrance.  The museum is really big.  

Near the tanks at the memorial site is a map of the layout of the grounds.  There is also a children's museum near this map with its own playground.  

In front of the museum is this mural (1/3 that I pictured anyway).  It is a lot better looking in person and I recommend seeing it in person.  it's all pretty cool.

For most of the tanks, we were allowed to go in and check it out.  I wouldn't recommend sitting though since a lot of the seats looked like they would cut you somewhere just looking at them the wrong way.  It was still pretty cool.  Other stuff I saw that i didn't post pictures of are rockets, missiles, missile launchers, various air crafts and a ship that you could normally board but was closed that day.  

Leaving the memorial there was this statue of a civilian hugging a soldier.  All of these statues and murals around the front of the museum have very significant meaning to events that occurred during the war in 1950.  

Itaewon is pretty cool if you're looking to do stuff other than clubbing.  However, i recommend getting off at Noksapyeong station, exit 3 and walking from there.  Itaewon is really close and Noksapyeong is where a majority of the restaurants are at.  

Train to Busan (부산행)

At the beginning of February, I took a trip down to 부산 (Busan).  It is located in the southern part of South Korea and is the second biggest city in the country.  I stayed for three days and got to visit with two of my best friends.  It was a pretty fun trip and during the winter it's a really nice place to be.  Since the city is very close to the ocean and closer to the equator and Seoul is, the temperature is always in a nice range that isn't too too cold or burning hot.

So For this trip, to save money, I took the slowest train option to get to Busan.  It took 5 hours but it was fine for me because I was dead tired and needed about 5 more hours of sleep anyway.  The price for the ITX Saemaul was 42,200 won (about 39 USD) for one way.  Not bad considering you're traveling across the country.  

As soon as I left 부산역 (Busan Station) I saw this welcome sign.  It changes color and does a water show as well. It was pretty cool to see.  Busan has a lot more art around the streets than Seoul does.  It gives more of an artist vibe. 

My first stop immediately after arriving in 부산 (Busan) was to go to 용두산공원 (Yongdusan Park) and check out the Busan Tower.  The park is very well known because it is where the Koreans were able to fight off the Japanese from taking over that area during the Japanese invasion of Korea.  

Behind my friend and I is the Busan Tower.  It is A LOT bigger than it looks in the picture.  We were still a good walk away from getting to the tower.  

Turn the camera around, away from selfie mode, and this is what I saw.  It was a beautiful view.  The city had a really nice view from up here and gave off a kind of relaxed vibe the whole time I was there.  

Inside this structure is a bell.  I wasn't informed on why the bell is rung but the structure itself looked amazing.  On the other side of it, there was a stage being prepared for a concert so it was difficult to get any closer but it is possible to go up to the bell almost.  

Behind me is the statue of the soldier who is said to have fought off the Japanese army and was able to protect the area from Japanese forces.  Since the battle occurred here, the statue is placed here. 

If you want to visit the park too when you visit Busan, it is located at  남포역 (Nampo Station).  That is the closest point of entry to the park.  I went at about 6pm and it felt very peaceful and serene there.  

After Yongdusan Park, I went through the street market of 서면 (Seomyeon) and it was amazing.  Drinking and eating allover the place, amazing food, and a lot of fun.  there was so much to do, so much food, and just so much fun.  The time went by really fast wandering the street market.  Busan is said to have some of the best foods in Korea and I totally agree with that.  Everything I ate (and had put in my mouth without warning) tasted amazing.  It was also really colorful.

On the second day I was in Busan, one of my friends and I went back to 서면 (Seomyeon) for a bit and then had lunch in 해운대 (Haeundae) and hit the beach.  It was an awesome day.  The weather was perfect, the sun was out and there was a little breeze.  The beach wasn't too full and lunch was great too.  The upper picture is of the restaurant across the street from where i was eating.  Like I said, artwork everywhere in Busan, even on the building.  

Haeundae beach was really nice to visit.  The water was really blue and it wasn't crowded.  This beach is the most well known beach in Busan.  In the waters there were navy boats sailing around and people were playing around.  This is a must see place too when visiting Busan.  There was a lot of artwork around the beach such as fountains, statues, sculptures and little pyramid looking things.  

On my last day in Busan, I stayed in an urban residential area.  The architecture was different from Seoul and the apartments were bigger.  this was the view from the window on the floor I was staying on.  It was a pretty nice view to walk out to and see.  On my way back I took KTX.  KTX is more expensive.  Normally the price is 60,00 won but I got a ticket for 48,800 won.  It was a really good deal.  KTX can also get you from Seoul to Busan in 2-3 hours since its speed as fast as a plane in take off.  

Here is a video from yongdusan park. at 6pm 

My visit to the Namhansanseong Fortress (During Korean New Year)

As the title suggests, the fortress is located in Namhansanseong (남한산성) and is located on top of a mountain.  I went there with a couple friends as part of a little hiking trip.  The fortress is famous for being the mountain castle of Korea.  It was the king's emergency castle and it was also difficult to reach.  Eventually the castle was burned down and a replica now stands where the original once stood.  The hike was nice but I advise against hiking up to the fortress in winter unless you are well prepared for the icy trails.  I fell several times and in some spots, slipping and falling could mean sliding all the way down the mountain...and it isn't guaranteed you will make it to the bottom intact.  The total hike time from the bottom to the fortress was a little over an hour and a half and walkingn to the entrance of the hiking trail from the train was another half hour.  It was steep and there were many, many staircases to climb up but the sights were worth it in the end.  The fortress was hard to find since 1) it is a fortress hidden in the mountains and 2) Once we got through the main wall, there was a hanok village surrounding the village.  The hanok village is inhabitable and people do live there.
Hanok Village - an area made up of very traditional style Korean homes.  Hanok style homes are very expensive to make these days and therefore, the homes themselves are sold at very high prices.

Here is close to the beginning of the hike.  This scene is maybe 5 minutes in.  There were a lot of these yards.  What it is, is that monks come to these places to balance rocks and it makes these beautiful looking rock sculpture gardens.  

A little further inot the hike.  This was a more narrow path at the beginning and there was a map showing where we were and far away the fortress was.  I couldn't get any closer to the sign because the path was completely frozen and too slippery to walk on.

about 1/3rd or 1/4th of the way up was this Buddhist temple with paper lanterns and really nice artwork around the outside.  The temple was really pretty but since it was Korean New Year, there were rituals being performed in the temple and I couldn't enter.  

This is one of many staircases.  It is so long it fades into the mountain in this picture but it actually turns and there are 4 more rows of stairs.  It was the highest staircase to climb there and the highest I have ever climbed.  

Finally, after a little over an hour of hiking, we made it to the top of the mountain and reached the entrance to the fortress.  Its hard to tell but the ground was frozen in that tunnel and I fell hard in there.  It was hard to get up too since it was really slippery haha.

Walking along a little more once I got into the fortress and I saw this amazing view.  It overlooks the Gyeonggi province.  The sight was a lot better in person than the picture can show.  I highly recommend hiking the fortress and experiencing the view yourself.  

Here are some pictures of the hanok village a little down from the last picture.  People live in some and others are shops.  There are several under construction currently and they are pretty close to the fortress which was kind of cool.  

This was the entrance gate to the fortress.  As you can see, it was closed when I went and that's because it was Korean New Year and everyone had the day off (4 days off actually.  Korean New Year is from Friday - Monday and work resumes on Tuesday again).

This was the best shot I could get of the fortress.  Even from far away, It was still a magnificent sight.  By this point I had fallen so many times I felt both sore and numb but seeing this fortress and the view from its security wall were amazing.  

Here is a little video I took from the wall

My Vacation in Tokyo

After the semester, I traveled around a little bit (both in and out of Korea) and the first place I went to was Japan.  I stayed in Chiba mostly but I was so close to Tokyo that I was always in Tokyo.  Japan and Korea are similar countries.  However, there are major differences that you will notice if you ever go to Japan on vacation (since it is affordable enough to visit for a vacation).

How long does it take to get there and how much is the flight?

Japan is fairly close.  From Incheon International Airport, it takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes to fly into Tokyo (more specifically, Narita Intrnational Airport).  Tickets range in prices but the average price for a round trip ticket for about a week should be between 200-300 dollars (US currency).

What are the differences between Japan and Korea?

Based on my experience, the streets look cleaner, newer and everything looks more organized.  It is a lot quieter there and people are a lot more helpful.  Everyone is very welcoming and nice.  For those of you who want to practice language skills you have learned, in Japan they let you get as far as you can before speaking English.  I went to a lot of places and spoke only in Japanese; however there was an instance where I was speaking Japanese to a point where I couldn't explain myself any further and the woman I was talking to responded in English.  In Korea that doesn't happen too often.  usually while trying to pay, we'll be spoken to in English.  Also, Japanese people work a lot more so the streets are always empty (except during rush hour to and from work).  In Korea the streets are always full of people and music is always playing.

Here is a normal crosswalk in Tokyo.

This is a bus stop.  At first I thought it was a rest area...

In Japan, a lot of people prefer to ride a bike as their main form of transportation and therefore,you will see a lot of these kinds of bicycle garages around.

At the sunshine mall in downtown Tokyo is the main Pokemon center for Tokyo.  It's pretty big and has a lot more stuff than the Pokemon center in Seoul.  

To the right after walking in, you will see the big mewtwo statue here.  You can't touch it but you can get close enough to take pictures with it.

After leaving the store, right outside the exit is the pokemon arcade.  It had already closed for the day when I saw it (the malls in Japan usually close at 8pm)

Throughout the Sunshine Mall there were set ups like this celebrating the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon.  If there wasn't a set up, there was a poster cut out of a pokemon with its name on it.

Outside of restaurants, you will see very realistic looking plates and bowls off food showing you what your meal will look like.  Believe it or not, every meal I had in Japan, looked IDENTICAL to the display in the window.

Another thing I did was go to Disneyland (not Disney Sea) and it was so much cheaper than the Disneylands in America.  However, it was a little smaller too but still just as fun.  

Here I am with Mickey.  After entering the park, there is a really long walkway and inside the arch along the walkway outside a Disney store is this poster with Mickey and all his stats and info. 

Here I am on my way back to the airport to return to Seoul.  My Time in Japan was not bad.  It could have been a better trip (it rained a lot and there was a big earthquake) but I would definitely return for another vacation.  Behind me is an average Japanese neighborhood.  Japanese homes are a lot more spacious than korean homes and a lot more western too which was kind of nice in a way.